Mud sampling device



A ril 14, 1959 H. H. ADDISON 2,832,014

MUD SAMPLING DEVICE Filed May 14, 1957 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A ril 14, 1959 H. H. ADDISON 2,882,014

MUD SAMPLING DEVICE Filed May 14, 1957 42 29 4/ jafi 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Tlc a.

United States Patent MUD SAMPLING DEVICE Herman H. Addison, Denver City, Tex., assignor to The Texas Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Application May 14, 1957, Serial No. 658,999

r Claims. (Cl. 255-1.4)

This invention is concerned with mud sampling apparatus in general. More specifically, the mud sampling apparatus of this invention is particularly adapted for use in oil well drilling. However, the invention might also be applied to similar types of activity where it is desired to sample a drilling fluid at predetermined depths in the drilling operation.

Heretofore, sampling of the drilling mud during oil well' drilling operations has been carried out manually. By making use of a system according to this invention, the sampling of drilling mud may be carried out automatically at predetermined accurately measured depths. Furthermore, this sampling may be accomplished in a simple inexpensive manner without necessitating the close watch which would be necessary when manual mud samples are taken.

In view of the above situation, it is an object of this invention to provide a system for automatic mud sampling which provides for the taking of each individual sample at a given depth, which may be accurately predetermined.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mud sampling mechanism which employs a plurality of individual and removable containers. Such containers may be set onto the mechanism and left there until the last one of a given number of containers is filled. Thereafter it is merely necessary that the filled containers be removed and replaced by an empty set, while resetting the mechanism for taking the next group of samples.

Briefly, the invention includes a mud sampling device for use in connection with the drilling of oil wells and the like. Such sampling device comprises a plurality of removable containers for receiving samples of drilling mud as it flows out of the well with cuttings therein. The device also comprises means for directing the flow of at least some of said mud flowing out of the top of said well into one of said containers. The device further comprises a tray for supporting said containers spaced apart in a row, and mounting means for said tray to permit movement thereof for successively positioning said containers to receive a sample of said mud. The device further comprises means for biasing said tray for movement in a given direction; stop means attached to said tray for arresting movement thereof at each of said successive sample receiving positions; and means for releasing said stop means at predetermined depths of the drilling as it progresses in order that the next succeeding container will be positioned by movement of the tray for receipt of the next mud sample.

One particular embodiment of the invention is described below in accordance with the applicable statutes, and is illustrated in the drawings in which:

Fig. l is a schematic elevation showing an oil well and derrick, with the earth in cross section, and including a mud sampling mechanism according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the mud sampling mechanism alone;

Fig. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along ice the lines 33 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective, showing the details of the stop mechanism for determining successive positions of the tray and containers as they receive mud samples.

Referring to Fig. 1, the overall operation of the mud sampling system will first be described. As illustrated, the mud sampling device of this invention is applicable to the drilling of oil wells and the like, so that the illustration employed makes use of a showing of a derrick 11, for the drilling of an oil well 12, in the ground 13 which has been schematically illustrated in cross-section. As is the ordinary practice, there is located at the top of the well 12, a casing 14 which extends upward to a floor 15 of the derrick 11.

Thus as drilling progresses, the drilling mud is circulated down through the hollow center of a drill stem 18, and is forced up within the hole, or well 12 surrounding the drill stem, and out at the top via a discharge pipe 19 which is connected to the casing 14. This drilling mud is then picked up from pits 20, in the usual manner, and pumped to a swivel head 21 by means of the usual hoses and flexible couplings (not shown). The drilling mud which thus circulates in the hole, acts to carry cuttings as they are removed by the drill bit (not shown) upward within the well 12 and out through the pipe 19 to be returned to the pits 20 for recirculation, via a shaker 22 if desired, in order to remove for examination the cuttings which are contained in the circulating drilling mud.

In addition to the removal of drill cuttings, for continuous inspection and logging thereof, it is a usual practice to periodically take samples of the drilling mud in order to determine the quality thereof. Such drilling mud sampling is a relatively simple operation and has ordinarily been carried out manually at desired intervals. Such manual operation, however, introduces considerable variation in the timing of such mud sampling. Furthermore it is not always feasible or convenient to take samples at regular intervals. By employing a device according to this invention, these mud samples may be taken automatically as directly controlled by the depth of the drilling penetration.

In order to thus take automatic samples of the drilling mud, there is employed a bleeder pipe 26 that is connected to the mud circulating pipe 19 at any convenient location therealong. In this way, a certain amount of the drilling mud that is flowing through the pipe 19, is continuously diverted via bleeder pipe 26 to be discharged into one of a plurality of removable containers 27. These containers 27 are situated side by side in a row on a tray 28 (see Figs. 2 and 3), which tray is carried by an overhead trolley arrangement that includes a hollow track member 29 extending between each of two end framework panels 30 and 31, of the whole apparatus;

The tray 28 includes a floor 34 with hanging bracket type supports 35 and 36 securely attached at either end thereof. These supports 35 and 36 may take various forms, but in the form illustrated each includes an upward extending centrally located arm 37 and 33 respectively which carry attached thereto, by a shaft 38, a pair of rollers 39 for supporting the tray 28 on the track for free-rolling movement therealong.

Attached to the support bracket 36, there is a cable attachment strap 40 to which is fastened a rope or cable 41. Cable 41 extends around a pulley 42 and upward over another pulley 43 after which it is attached to a weight 44 so that the tray 28 is gravity biased, by the force of the weight 44, tending to move the tray 28 to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2.

The above-described movement to the left by tray 28, is made periodic and directly controlled by the depth of the drilling operation, by means of additional elements located adjacent to the tray 28. These elements include, among others, a plurality of disks 48 through 51. These disks are adjustably fastened longitudinally spaced along a shaft 52. Shaft 52 is journaled at one end in a bearing 56 that is an integral part of a reduction gear housing 54. The other end of shaft 52 is journaled in a bearing (not shown) carried by a support member 57 which is attached to the framework of the apparatus which joins the two end panels 30 and 31. Shaft 52 is rotated by means of a gear reduction driving connection between the shaft 52 and a pulley 53. This gear reduction drive is made up of a unit having a standard construction that is contained within the housing 54. The disks 48, 49, 50 and 51 are fastened to the shaft 52 securely, for positive rotation therewith, in any convenient manner, e.g., by being keyed thereto or otherwise attached to allow the longitudinal position of each disk on the shaft 52 to be adjusted and set depending upon the size of the containers 27 that are.

employed. There is an arm 55, which is attached to the tray 28 in any convenient manner, such as by being welded to the support bracket 35 of tray 28. This arm 55 extends laterally into proximity with the shaft 52 that carries the disks 48 through 51. Thus, the tip or extremity of arm 55 overlaps the outer circumference of the disks 48 through 51, so that arm 55 makes contact with each of the disks 48 through 51 in succession. In this manner the disks restrain the tray 28 from rolling longitudinally along the track 29 as urged by the weight 44 acting via cable 41.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be observed that each of the disks 48, 49, 50 and 51 has a sector-shaped notch 58, 59, 60 and 61 respectively, which are set relatively in rotational positions such that, following a predetermined depth of drilling of the oil well, each of the notches 58 through 61 will successively be positioned at the location where the arm 55 contacts that disc; so that the arm 55 will be released to allow tray 28 to roll across on the track 29 until the next of the successive disks, 48 through 51, has been contacted. Then the tray 28 will remain in each succeeding position until the drilling of the well has proceeded for a predetermined depth as determined by the various dimensions involved in connection with the rotation of shaft 52, i.e., the diameter of pulley 53 and the gear ratio of the reduction gears in gear housing 54, for positioning the disks 48 through 51.

The rotation of pulley 53, for determining positions of the disks 48 through 51 via the shaft 52, may be carried out in any feasible manner. For example, there is illustrated in Fig. 1, an arrangement which provides a line or cable 64 that extends from an attachment bracket 65 (located on the swivel head 21 of the drilling rig) up over a set of pulleys 66 near the top of the derrick 11 and down over a directional pulley 67 for proper alignment with the pulley 53 of the mud sampling device. Then the cable 64 continues around pulley 53 and up over another directional pulley 68 to extend horizontally from there until a final directional pulley 69 is reached, where the cable turns upward to again become attached at the bracket 65 on swivel head 21.

It will be appreciated by anyone skilled in the art that various other and different drive connections might be employed for rotating the pulley 53 in conjunction with the vertical positioning of the drilling stem 18 as it progresses downward in the hole. For example, instead of continuing the line 64 back horizontally to the derrick and attaching it also to swivel head 21, a spring rewinder drum (not shown) might be employed to cause cable 64 to be retracted, or extended, depending upon the vertical positioning of swivel head 21. In any case, it will be appreciated that provision should be made for allowing the changing of drill stem sections as the hole progresses. Thus, some clutch arrangement (not shown) should be had, in order that the raising of swivel head 21 upward within the derrick may be accomplished without driving the pulley 53 and the mud sampling mechanism, in the reverse direction. By employing some such clutching arrangement, the upward movement of swivel head 21 will not effect any rotation of the pulley 53; but only the downward movement thereof during the course of drilling of the hole, will turn the pulley 53.

It will be observed that the mud sampling apparatus includes, in addition to the elements so far described, a trough 72 (see Figs. 2 and 3) which lies beneath the tray 28 and extends laterally beyond the outside dimensions of the tray and longitudinally between the end panels 30 and 31 so as to be sure and catch all of the drilling mud which spills over whenever any one of the containers 27 has been completely filled. Of course trough 72 must extend longitudinally to accommodate the full length of travel of the tray 28 in order to provide for filling all of the containers 27. The trough 72 has a sloping bottom 73 which causes the mud carried by the trough to flow downward and out of a pipe 74 that acts to carry the excess mud over to the collection point in conjunction with the shaker 22, from which point the mud is returned to the pits 20 for recirculation.

Operation The operation of the mud sampling mechanism may be briefly reviewed as follows:

Beginning at a given depth in the drilling operation, a plurality of the containers 27 will be placed side-by-side on the tray 28 leaving sufiicient space between each container so that as drilling mud overflows the top of any given container, it will all flow down into the trough 72 located underneath the tray 28 without spilling into the adjacent containers 27. Then the tray 28 will be slid to one end of its travel, i.e., at the right-hand end of track 29 (as viewed in Fig. 2) so that arm 55 is behind the first disk 48 as indicated in the full line position shown in Fig. 4. To accomplish this sliding of the tray 28, it will be necessary to lift it sufliciently to allow the arm 55 to clear each of the disks 48-51.

Now, with thetray in position as indicated, the apparatus is set so as to begin the mud sampling by filling the left-hand most container 27 with the mud flowing out of the bleeder pipe 26. This sampling of the drilling mud will continue so long as the drilling operation is in progress and as soon as the first container 27a has been filled, it will merely continue to overflow with the excess of the drilling mud being caught by the trough 72 and recirculated via the exit pipe 74 at one end of the trough. Thus by setting the position of disk 48 (notch 58) relative to the arm 55 at the beginning of the taking of the first mud sample, as soon as the drilling operation has progressed downward in the hole for a given depth, e.g., ten feet, the pulley 53 will have been rotated sufiiciently tocause a rotation of shaft 52 and the first disk 48 therewith'until the notch 58 in the disk 48 becomes aligned with the release bar, or arm 55. At such time, the tray 28 rolls quickly across along the track 29 under the force applied via the weight 44 and its attached cable 41, until the arm 55 comes into contact with the next disk 49. Now, by reason of the predetermined spacing between disks, the second from the left (when viewed in Fig. 2) of the containers 27 will be positioned directly underneath the discharge end of bleeder pipe 26. Consequently, the next succeeding container 27b will be filled, beginning at the depth which was accurately measured to be the desired amount, e.g., ten feet. Then, as soon as this container (27b) has been filled, the remaining flow of mud will merely be returned by recirculation in the same manner as just described above.

Now it will be clear that the operation continues one step at a time to take mud samples at predetermined depths during the course of the drilling. These samples are automatically taken at accurate intervals which are directly controlled by the depth of the drilling operation, and following the taking of the number of samples determined by the capacity of the apparatus (in that illustrated, five), the tray may be reset with a new set of empty containers for continuing the operation.

It is pointed out that it would be a relatively simple matter to make additional arrangements whereby only a sample of mud suflicient to fill one container would be taken at each location. The rest of the mud flowing thereafter and until the next depth had been reached, would be directed only into the trough 72 for recirculation. In this way the mud sample taken would not be a cumulative one, as is the case with the apparatus and operation described heretofore. One manner of thus taking spot samples instead of cumulative ones, would be to add a second set of disks (not shown) spaced about midway between the existing disks 48, 49, 50 and 51. Then by setting the notches or cut-out sectors in disks 48-51 at the proper angle for early release of the arm 55 after only enough time to fill one container, and setting the notches or cut-out sectors of the additional disks to release after the desired depth has been drilled; the mud flowing between filling of each container may be directed into the trough 72 only (between adjacent containers) until the next predetermined depth has been reached.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in some detail, this is not to be taken as in any way limiting the invention but merely as being descriptive thereof.

I claim:

1. A mud sampling device for use in connection with drilling oil wells and the like comprising a plurality of removable containers for receiving samples of drilling mud as it flows out of the well with cuttings therein, means for directing the flow of at least some of said mud flowing out of the top of said well into one of said containers, means for movably supporting said containers relative to said flow directing means, said containers being spaced apart and adapted for successive receipt of said mud, means for biasing said supporting means for movement in a predetermined direction in order to cause the successive receipt of the mud in said containers one at a time, means for restraining said supporting means against said bias, and means for releasing said supporting means at predetermined depths of penetration of the drill bit in the hole in order to successively sample said mud at said predetermined depths automatically.

2. A mud sampling device for use in connection with drilling oil wells and the like comprising a plurality of removable containers for receiving samples of drilling mud as it flows out of the well with cuttings therein, means for directing the flow of at least some of said mud flowing out of the top of said well into one of said containers, means for movably supporting said containers relative to said flow directing means, said containers being spaced apart and adapted for successive receipt of said mud, means for biasing said supporting means for movement in a predetermined direction in order to cause the successive receipt of the mud in said containers one at a time, means for restraining said supporting means against said ias and releasing at predetermined depths of penetration of the drill bit in the hole in order to successively sample said mud at said predetermined depths automatically, said last named means comprising an arm attached to said support means and traversing a predetermined path as the support means moves said containers for successive filling thereof, stop means located in said path for contacting said arm at locations spaced apart by the spacing of corresponding elements on said containers, and means for actuating said stop means in accordance with the penetration of the drill bit to release said arm at given depths and allow the next succeeding sample to be taken.

3. A mud sampling device for use in connection with drilling oil wells and the like comprising a plurality of removable containers for receiving samples of drilling mud as it flows out of the well with cuttings therein, means for directing the flow of at least some of said mud flowing out of the top of said well into one of said containers, a tray for supporting said containers spaced apart in a row, mounting means for said tray to permit movement thereof for successively positioning said containers to re ceive a sample of said mud, means for biasing said tray for movement in a given direction, means attached to said tray and cooperating with means for arresting movement thereof at each of said successive sample receiving positions, and means connected to drill bit penetration for actuating said arresting means to release said attached means at predetermined depths of the drilling as it progresses in order that the next succeeding container will be positioned by movement of the tray for receipt of the next mud sample.

4. A mud sampling device for use in connection with drilling oil wells and the like comprising a plurality of removable containers for receiving samples of drilling mud as it flows out of the well with cuttings therein, means for directing the flow of at least some of said mud flowing out of the top of said well into one of said containers, a tray for supporting said containers spaced apart in a row, over-head track mounting means for supporting said tray for longitudinal movement lengthwise of said row of containers, means for biasing said tray for movement along said track from one end to the other, an arm carried by said tray, a plurality of disks located in the path traversed by said arm and spaced apart by the spacing between corresponding elements of said containers to act as stops for successive positions of said tray, said disks having cut-out portions for releasing said arm when a predetermined position of each disk is reached, and means for positioning said disks in accordance with the depth being drilled so that the tray will be released at predetermined depths and succeeding samples taken at the successive depths desired.

5. A mud sampling device for use in connection with drilling oil wells and the like comprising a plurality of removable containers for receiving samples of drilling mud as it flows out of the well with cuttings therein, means for directing the flow of at least some of said mud flowing out of the top of said well into one of said containers, a tray for supporting said containergs spaced apart in a row, over-head track mounting means for supporting said tray for longitudinal movement lengthwise of said row of containers, gravity actuated means for biasing said tray for said longitudinal movement toward one end of the track, an arm extending laterally from said tray and traversing a given path as said tray moves under the force of said biasing means, a plurality of circular disks located in said path and spaced apart by the spacing between corresponding elements of said containers to act as stops for successive positions of said tray, a shaft having said plurality of disks fixedly mounted thereon, a cut-out sector in each of said disks, said sectors being angularly positioned relatively in a staggered relationship, said shaft being located such that said arm will be released as each sector coincides with said path, a gear reduction drive for rotating said shaft, means for actuating said gear reduction drive in direct dependence upon the depth of said drilling operation in order that said releasing of the arm will take place at predetermined depth intervals during said drilling, trough means located under said tray and extending far enough to catch all overflow of the mud from said containers, and means for returning said overflow to the main flow of drilling mud for recirculation therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,721,126 Lilligren July 16, 1929 

